Ship&#39;s armor



April 20, 1937. l. M. vwl-Cox Y 2,077,729

sH`1Ps ARMOR ed April l, 1935 Patented Apr. 20, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE Application April 1,

1 Claim.

My invention relates to construction and has for its object to provide anew and highly efficient construction of a unit which may be used in any structural building.

A further object is to provide a. unit of construction which has many and varied uses and which may be used either to build buildings, forts, structural steel edices, bridges or embattlements, or which units may be used within l the shell of battleships to protect 4their hulls from explosion, torpedoes or collisions.

A still further object is to provide a construction for ships which will make the sides thereof of imperviousness to attack by submarine torl pedoes, air-bombs, mines or other explosives, and which construction will turn, trap and cause torpedoes to explode with outward force rather than damaging the interior of the ship.

As to building of forts and embattlements,

20 these units are gas-proof and bomb-proof and may be so constructed as to be unimpaired by earth-quake shock or other disturbances.

My units may be adapted for either minor or major construction for small or large use where 25 strength, rigidity and protection are required. For instance, aeroplanes-both the bodies and wings may be greatly strengthened as well as enhanced in appearance and beauty; also helmets worn by men-of-War lined with small sizes of 30 these units should also prove far more protective than the ones now in use.

Armored cars may be so constructed with these units as to prevent bullets from entering the cars', or war-tanks could be made more im- 35 pervious to-enemy bulletsby their use.

These objects I accomplish with the units of construction shown in the accompanying drawing in which similar numerals and letters of reference indicate, like parts throughout the sev- 40 eral views and are described in the speciiications forming a partof this application, and pointed out in theappended claim. A

In the drawing in winch I have shown uses and construction of my invention,

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a half oi' a ship, showing vmy units of construction erected in double layers laround the hull of the ship and across the deck. 50 Figure 2 is a face view of one of the units with the deflecting plate used therein when the unit is used in constructing battlements, forts, ships,

etc. A

Figure 3 is a vertical section of Figure 2 with 55 .the rear unit shown holding a meshing of iine 1935, Serial No. 14,093

spring wire to catch any projectiles, should they penetrate beyond the iirst row of units.

Figure 4 is a face view of the' units of construction with dotted lines to indicate the next deep layer of units as they will be set for uses', such as those of Figures 1 and 3, with the back units staggered in relation to the front units.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of some of the units of construction as made for buildings, etc., showing their means of securing them together.

AFigure 6 is a view of a portion of a bridge showing the use of the construction-units for bridge and structural steel work.

In the drawing in Figure 1, I have shown the hull of a vessel', as A with the deck as B, and within the hull and directly under the deck, I then mount my units of defense and construction. These units of defence and construction consist of hexagonal cells or chambers I, having the six walls shown at 2, and set on rows of each other to make up a completed interlocking wall C. Back of this vwall I then set up another like wall D with the positioning of the hexagonal chambers 43 in this wall staggered in relation to those in the first wall as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 4. Each of the chambers I and 3 are provided with end closure plates secured therein by any suitable means or welded thereonto to make the walls thereof rigid and in one piece when the chambers are all set up into a wall. In the chambers I, I then provide my deecting members which consist of a plate 5 having the center thereof curved with the edges 6 flanged outwardly to tend to catch any projectile whichmight penetrate the hull. of the ship and deflect it toward the sidefwall of the chamber and of the next adjoining chamber. 'I'he deflecting plates 5 are held in the front end of the cells or chambers I by spiral springs 8 with the large end of the spiral against the rear wall 9 of the chamber and the small front end of the spring secured to the back side of the plate 5. Stop lugs or bosses I0 are fastened through the walls of each chamber penetrating into the chamber suicient distance to stop the recoil of the kplate 5 fromgoing too far back into the chamber therefore giving a greater tendency to turn the projectile or torpedo. In the'hexagonal chambers 3 I then provide a complete lling ofspring material I2 such as coil spring wires or fine copper or steel Wires forced into the chamber' in any manner of f orm but having suiilcient spring thereto to enmesh a projectile which might have penetrated the rst row or wall of cells and through the back wall 9 of the chambers l and the iront wall Il of the chambers 3. Thus the springing action of this material will completely stop the projectile from passing through this chamber. It is also thought that some material may be used within the cells or chambers 3 which will have an eiect such as will put out fires or having sufiicient constituency andstiiness as to cause the projectile to further slow up and when exploded this material will decrease the power of the explosion. A suitable material for this use is oil treated clay, such as modeling clay which will harden quickly when wet and which will not burn readily.

In Figures 5 and 6 of the drawing I have shown the use of the units of construction with Figure 5 showing the way they are set up in interlocking or intertting rows one adjacent the next one and with each of these units E secured to its next abutting or adjoining unit by sets of rivets l5.

In Figure 6 I have shown the use of units for building a bridge structure with each unit F set to, upon and abutting the next unit and each unit will be secured to its next unit by suitable means such as rivets, bolts, end plates or by welding the abutting edges together.

When these units have been set together to form the desired structure for the bridge they are secured together as desired and the ends may either be sealed by any design of an artistic nature simply closed over -by continuous end plates or they, the ends, may be left open giving a very pleasing appearance to the bridge. The top row I 8 of the units I9 is then used for the top structure of the bridge and the area 20 between each edge 2| of the units is filled in with cement or other suitable' material to form the level usable surface of the bridge. The ends of the bridge may then be provided with a suitable railing that shown being of upwardly set series of pipes 22 held in place by setting them thru the edges 2l of the top row of cells and then pouring the surface cement in place holding the pipes as shown and a stringer 24 may be secured from one to the other if desired.

As will be obvious this type of bridge construction will be strong and rigid and should cross lines of wires, power lines, or water pipes being required to cross the bridge they may be set through any row such as the top row IB of the units I9 or the next row 25 of the units and the units will support the pipes or cables in a very satisfactory manner. 'I'his type of construction will eliminate a great amount of pile driving and engineering work.

Having thus described my invention I desire to secure by Letters Patent and claim:-

In a device for protecting ships, the combination of a layer of rows of hexagonal hollow units set one onto the other to form a completed lining for the ship; another layer of like units set adjacent the ends of the rst row with the units staggered in relation to the first row and with the ends of all units sealed closed; helical springs mounted in the outside layer of units one in each unit with the large end of the spring inwardly toward the hull o1' the ship; curved detlector plates mounted onto the outer ends of the springs said plates having the outer rims curved outwardly; stopper lugs mounted in said units to retard the backward movement of the detlector plates when struck by a projectile; and

resilient absorptive material carried in the inner i row o! lunits to dampen the explosive eiects of a projectile and retard the inward movement thereof.

IDA M. WILCOX. 

